An ever-increasing global population continues to fuel a plethora of sustainability concerns including sufficient and affordable access to protein sources for both feed animals and human consumption, particularly in developing nations. While marine protein sources are often utilized in feeds due to their desirable nutritional profile and enhanced palatability, high production costs lead to an increased demand for alternatives. However, many plant species are unsuitable alternatives due to qualities such as inferior amino acid profile, inferior protein quality and/or quantity, inferior digestibility, high fiber content, and/or high oxalic acid content. Moreover, some protein sources pose significant allergy concerns to certain consumers (e.g., soy, dairy). Microcrop species (e.g., Lemna, Spirodella, Wolffia) that are properly blanched and processed yield protein preparations with many desirable qualities. However, biological characteristics of these microcrop species (e.g., Lemna) pose production and quality challenges. For example, many microcrop species grow as free-floating thalli on a surface of a growth medium. Such buoyancy of a microcrop species presents unique challenges in achieving a uniform blanching
Additionally, water conservation concerns—particularly in equatorial and arid regions—are a driving factor in identifying suitable apparatuses and methods for producing high concentration protein products from microcrop species. Moreover, energy efficiency is also an important consideration, as the production of high-concentration protein products from microcrop species has enormous potential for alleviating protein shortages in developing economic regions.